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Feyde to Black - Chapter 1

"A soldier dies a thousand deaths..."

...but that's not always how it used to be. An atrox goes through a lot in their life... or lives, thanks to insurance. I've read about the solitus soldiers from Earth's history... before OT knew how to make the clones for insurance. Dying for a cause seemed to mean more back then... and the wars didn't last as long.

I can't say that I've died a thousand deaths yet, but I've died more times than I can count. I'm not even sure if this is me anymore. This... clone... couldn't be more than a few days old since that last mission went wrong, but I could remember things prior to that. These days it's no longer heroic for a soldier to give up their life; it's just part what is expected of you as a soldier. I die so that others can live... and all of us fight another day.

Ancient history used to call this idea reincarnation... except you never knew what you would come back as. I might be a leet or a bronto in my next life. It was part of their philosophy back then, attributed to their gods or something... I don't know. Some of the solitus still believe in a God. Makes sense for them... or at least it used to before "life after death" meant something besides somebody that buys insurance.

I wonder though... does an atrox have a God? I was created by the scientists at OT. I have my life(s) after death because OT discovered the way to make it possible. Does a being with no ancestry also have no future? OT can't take away the aging process... at least not yet... and I'm getting old. I've still got plenty of fight in me though, with the help of those surgical implants and nano capabilities.

Maybe some of the solitus are still hiding their knowledge of an after-life in that Temple of the Three Winds I've been investigating. I'm still working on my investigation there, but as of yet I have found no answers. Maybe they're just ticked off at the rest of Rubi-ka because so many people are looking for answers there... or because of those that go there to loot the place. I'll admit I've picked up a few things there too, but it's usually the cultists that are starting the fight.

I'd better get some R&R before the mission tonight.

"A soldier dies a thousand deaths..." ... just another day at the office.

The sound of Feyde's nomad armor boots against the dusty temple floors were all that could potentially give away his position to the cultists in the area. He made his way into the lower level of the temple, cautious to make as little noise as possible. In some areas, there was no way for him to pass by the cultists unnoticed. The fire that illuminated the halls provided an eerie silhouette to these guards of unknown secrets. A few of them simply scowled at him as he walked by, but the majority chose to fight him for every inch of ground he took deeper into the temple... and he fought them all, from the cultists themselves to the strange being called the Defender of the Three. Each of them fell into a heap at his feet, riddled with energy burns from his newly acquired over-tuned E-Beamer.

It was only his cautious manner that kept him alive in these halls. If he simply ran into the fray, he could easily be cut down by the barrage of energy scythes and shotguns these believers wielded... but patience and caution could win the day, he thought... and perhaps then the secrets revealed here could explain what would happen to him once old age had taken its full toll.

Most of these halls already had his boot prints written in the thin layer of sand. He'd had rather aggressive negotiations with even the Exarchs of the temple, but they refused to provide him with any further knowledge. Perhaps there was still someone there that could give him the answers he sought though. In a rather large room with a high stone ceiling, there was a machine of some sort called the Guardian of Tomorrow. It looked pretty much like what you would expect to see if Omni-Tek decided to make a mechanized puppy... except for the fact that it was about two stories tall and had machine guns mounted on it. This puppy could bite.

Today though... his task was only reconnaissance. He was to observe the Guardian of Tomorrow and learn its tactics when more unwary individuals tried to bring the beast down. Today there were two such groups: one team of two OT officials, and another team of two Clan. From the far wall, some 70 yards away... Feyde watched these Clanners carefully. He despised the Clan and all the chaos that came with them... and today was no different. On two different occassions while waiting for the Guardian to show its face, one of the Clanners would run into the adjacent room to stir up the cultists and a few of their leaders... and then return to the OT officials so that OT would have to engage the cultists in order to survive the trouble that was caused. It appeared as though the Clan may already know what secrets the temple holds, and was trying to protect those secrets by sending OT back to their respective insurance terminal. More chaos was to come though.

Upon the abrupt arrival of the Guardian of Tomorrow, the OT officials attempted to subdue the mechanized monstrosity. The machine gun fire echoed within that huge hall to an almost deafening roar. Suprisingly, the small OT duo was gaining ground against this oversized puppy. When the Clan saw this to be the case, he quickly ran into the adjacent room to rile up more angry cultists... and maybe half a dozen came back and began swinging their hammers and scythes at the OT officials in an effort to protect their Guardian and its secrets.

Any good soldier cannot sit idly by while his comrades are in danger, especially when it is the result of Clan tactics. Feyde quickly jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could to the aid of the OT officials, trying not to put himself within reach of the Guardian itself. From a range of approximately 15 meters, Feyde began to pick off the cultists who had joined in the fight. It appeared that his quick thinking was working as the cultists began to fall, and the Clanner ran away once again. However, in the barrage of weaponry and energy beams that were flying around... Feyde failed to notice that the other OT officials had already lost their footing. As the second of the two officials fell to the ground, the Guardian of Tomorrow focused his attention on Feyde and began to pelt him with machine gun fire. To his surprise, Feyde was able to take most of the hits in stride... but the occassional critical strike was going to mean the end of him soon and he began searching for an alternate means of escape.

Realizing that in truth, there would be no escape this day... his intentions changed to re-focusing on the Clanner who caused this chaos and what would be Feyde's eventual demise. He spun in his tracks and headed for the door that lead deeper into the temple. The door to the next room opened at the most opportune time, and as the Clanner was running back towards Feyde with two or three more angry cultists... Feyde was running towards the Clanner with an angry Guardian. He could only imagine the look of shock on the Clanners face behind his carbonum helmet, as the Clanner would realize that his own tactics had been turned back on him. Feyde followed the Clanner for a few more steps before falling to the floor, and as his eyes dimmed he smiled as he watched the Guardian of Tomorrow chasing the Clanner out the opposite door.

Another day would come when Feyde would try to bring down the Guardian of Tomorrow, so that he could reveal its secrets. But as for today, it could not have ended any sweeter.

---

Feyde awoke once again at an insurance terminal in Omni-Entertainment. Yet another clone for him to inhabit. As he began to collect his thoughts and let himself heal physically, a reasoning occured to him. If OT designed the insurance capabilities to capture the soul or life-force at the exact moment of a person's death, and put it into this new clone... then there obviously was something to capture when an atrox dies. If this "soul" or "life-force" was not captured, then obviously the body would die but that does not necessarily mean the demise of the life-force as well.

Before he could continue the thought, his comm alerted him to a message that had been saved during his fight:

This is a pre-recorded message: 'Hi, my name is Rita Prestine. I am head of Omni-Med, and my hand took part in designing the genetic make-up that is your breed. I am as much your mother as anyone else! So it should be a great honor for you to help me with this mission:' We need your help. The Radar Display found at Mutant Domain in the area of Cosmik Fields, has been disabled by opposing troops... mutant riff-raff or whatever... I need not stress the tactical importance of Radar Displays, do I? Anyway, after a thorough search, we have found that the Super-Coolant component needs replacement after you have secured the area. Your mission objective would then be to install the Super-Coolant correctly in the Radar Display, and get out within 48 hours. Good luck, Soldier.

Feyde had always thought of Radar Displays as something that engineers would be more familiar with, but he also understood the need to secure the area before such a task could be accomplished. As they say... "mother knows best", and his "mother" had asked him to do a task. As a soldier, he was always up for the task.

After making sure he had the appropriate supplies and getting directions from another Omni-Trans associate, he got into his metallic colored Kodiak and set out to the radar display's location. Upon reaching his destination, he was met at the door by a Clan Assassin. Further investigation revealed that the radar display had been tampered with by Clan and mutants. The Clan apparently had thought to keep the radar display for themselves, as they attempted to secure the location with assassins, contract killers and a lasersniper while their own engineers began the task of taking over the facility. The handful of droids that had been operating the well-kept facility had been destroyed and left to rust within the halls. The area was secured without any unfortunate incidents... at least not for Feyde... and despite his lack of technical expertise, the radar display was brought back online. For the work that Feyde had done this day, he thought he deserved to be recognized with a new merit award... but instead OT provided him with a few credits and some nomad armor pants to match his boots. Such is a soldier's life, but there is always hope for next time.

Rita Prestine had brought up another thought that Feyde began to dwell on as he began the drive back in his Kodiak. If Ms. Prestine and the others at Omni-Med could be considered his mother, then perhaps all atrox do have a past. ...and if they have a past, then it is conceivable that they also have a future. This will take further investigation. Another task for another day.

Something had changed. I don't remember when it happened, or for that matter exactly what had happened. I just remember it wasn't good.

It seems that every time this body has been sent back for duplication at the insurance location, something was lost. Not a "something" like they forgot to reproduce a freckle in the right place... but a "something" like a small piece of my emotional heart was torn away. It left me... empty... cold. Maybe that was good for a soldier though... to feel somewhat disconnected.

In another life, maybe I was someone to believe in zen and karma in a neutral way of life... or performing elite operations in another sector. Maybe I just wanted a simple life, surrounded by the kindred spirits around me. On Rubi-ka, one could live so many different lives... take so many different paths... perhaps death itself had been defeated by OT, and I had simply failed to realize that there really was nothing left to fear as a soldier.

...

Today was my day though. Today was about the task at hand. Today was about discovering if there really were any answers here in the halls of the Temple. A heap of metal now lying at my feet... what used to be a strong robotic opponent was now lying at my feet... a collection of circuits and metal plating... the errand boys to the Guardian of Tomorrow.

As I brought my eyes up from the floor, I saw the Guardian's white metallic plating shimmering in the temple firelight. I began a quick pace towards the beast, noticing only briefly that it had begun fighting with other OT combatants. The gunfire grew louder as I began taking my own shots at this holder of secrets. Within moments, all sounds seemed to vanish and I could only see the beams of energy being briefly exposed by my weapon and then disappearing into holes in the metal plating.

"Betcha didn't know that hole was there 'till I blew it open, did ya'?!?" A rhetorical question no doubt, and one I hadn't then realized I had said out loud. Nevertheless, the Guardian of Tomorrow gave me the only answer I was looking for. The joints began to creak and strain, and finally... it lost all mobility and fell to the floor... its metal hind leg coming inches from cutting off the front portion of my foot as it fell. It didn't seem to matter anymore.

I circled around the front of the mountain of metal in time to see the other OT combatants giving away pieces of value to some Clanner that should never have survived to this area of the temple to begin with. She said thank you to the OT, and skipped away like we were all some sort of some children's school together.

"Omni helping Clan... what's the world coming to?" My rage built up inside of me until I slammed my fist through the Guardian's outer metal plating... wanting to rip out my fallen opponent's heart. I removed my hand holding something that had a few wires hanging off of each side. The other OT combatants had seen my response and only stood there... speechless. I stood there for a brief moment and then began walking towards the door to leave.

I realized that this Guardian of Tomorrow really held no answers for me... at least not the answers to the questions I had. Was there a life for me after this one... after old age takes its toll and OT can't put me back together anymore? Right now, it doesn't seem to matter. Right now, I've got a Clanner to kill. When my last fight comes and death is standing over me, I'll look up... smile... and say "You order some fresh ventilation?" and begin carving new style into death's frame with whatever blaster I've got by my side that day.

Continuing to exit the temple, I looked down and opened my hand that I had punched through the Guardian of Tomorrow with. Inside was one of the Guardian's Circuit Boards. "Hey, I bet I could do somethin' with this", I said with a smirk on my face. Now where'd that Clanner go?

Feyde to Black - Chapter 2

Somewhere in Newland City, a soldier entered a run-down looking room and took off his armored helmet. It took a moment for Feyde’s eyes to adjust to the darker room. He made his way through the miscellaneous robot junk laying in piles along the floor. Farther back against the walls there were shelves, with rows of jars containing monster parts from who knows what kind of creature.

“Hey, Vandrico! You in here?”

“In the back! …just watch your step.”, came from one corner of the room.

Feyde continued through the parts, all categorized into types… but still mostly laying on the floor. A silver pistol hanging on the wall caught his attention, and he stretched out his arm to pick it up for further inspection.

“…and don’t touch the River MV! I just got that.”

He hesitated. “Looks pretty trashed already.” Feyde said, trying to brush some rust off the barrel without Vandrico noticing. Most of the room was dark, but at this point Feyde could see a middle-aged solitus sitting at a workbench… bald head reflecting the light coming from the lamp over the engineer’s head. Vandrico wasn’t his real name. People simply called him that as a term of endearment, so named after the world-famous Italian engineer Vandrico of the mid thirty-fourth century.

Vandrico still had not diverted his attention from what he was focusing on. His feeble automoton named Maximillian was standing behind him a few feet to his right. Max glanced at Feyde a moment, but said nothing except for the occasional blurbs that nobody understood.

“Yeah, some people would say its irreparable… but you know me… always manage to make something out of nothing.” This was true of course. Vandrico never seemed to throw away anything, always thinking that he’d find a use for it later. That’s the reason why his workshop looked like such a mess, but also the reason for Feyde’s visit.

Feyde slowly approached Vandrico’s chair from the left. A collage of diagrams, math equations and blueprints were hanging on the wall in front of his workbench. “That’s actually why I…”

“Used to be people had to do lots of studying to learn anything.” Vandrico cut off Feyde’s sentence, hardly noticing. “Now you can just throw in a new implant and ta-da… you’re smarter”. He appeared to be trying to combine a low quality pistol magazine with a decent quality spring-shaped object. He dropped the couple of pieces the few inches to the table in frustration. “Bloody hell! This is not gonna work.” He paused to take in a deep breath. “Those implants still can’t replace good ol’ fashion know-how though.”

Feyde waited patiently, looking for the next opportune time to explain his purpose. Vandrico sat staring at his workbench, running one hand over his long retro-style moustache. Then as if flipping a relay, he looked up at Feyde with his full attention. “So what brings you in today, matey? C’mon, don’t just stand there.”

Feyde reached into a backpack and pulled out a rectangular contraption with wires hanging off both ends. “I found this circuit board the other day, and it looked like it might be useful.”, handing it to Vandrico.

“Hey whad’ya know? Maybe I’m teachin’ you something after all! At least you can recognize a circuit board when you see one. Sweet Mary and Joseph, ain’t this a mess?” Vandrico turned it over and around, inspecting it from various angles. “…and you think I can do somethin’ with it do ya’? Just look at it… it looks like someone ripped this out of whatever it was originally intended for.”

“Yeah, well I… uh…” He searched for the right explanation. “ Hey, if you can’t do anything with it, maybe I can take it down to the tailor and he can make a trophy belt out of it or something. hehe.” He was joking, but could tell that something he said got the gears working in the engineer’s head.

“Give me 26 hours, and I should be able to make something useful out of this for you. I just gotta work with it a little and make some minor repairs.”

“Alright then, I’ll plan on being here at 16:00 hours tomorrow then.”, and Feyde took a few steps back towards the labyrinth of parts lying on the floor.

Vandrico studied the board for another second before diverting his attention. “Wait a minute Feyde… Bastian…” It wasn’t often that someone called Feyde by his first name. Feyde didn’t like people using his real name for the most part, but he and Vandrico went back a long ways, so he didn’t mind as much. “I can tell something has been weighing on your mind lately. Anything you wanna talk about?”

Feyde held his helmet, shifting it around in his large hands and staring at the finish on the back of it. “It’s nothing.”

Vandrico sighed, and clapped the palm of his hand against his own leg a couple of times. “Well if you won’t talk to me about it, will you go visit somebody at Omni-Med and let them work you through it?” Vandrico persisted.

“That’s all I need… someone stirring up the old psyche. I’ll be alright, I’ve just gotta work out some things… and I don’t need Omni-Med knowing my personal business. Next thing they’ll do is take me off of active duty ‘cause they think I’ll have a breakdown or something. Really, I’m fine.” He was never one to talk about things that bothered him much. Maybe when he was younger he would have, but there were few who knew anything about him other than his work as an OT soldier.

“Okay, okay. Just remember that you do have friends you can lean on.” Vandrico said, but he still wasn’t convinced that Feyde was “fine”.

He stood there for a moment, as if absorbing difficult information. “See you tomorrow… old friend.” Feyde put on his helmet and walked out into the street’s afternoon crowd.

The Kodiak pulled to a stop at the top of a dune, overlooking a few small structures. The atrox stepped out and surveyed the area. He grimaced as he targeted a couple of Clanners across the ravine in his scope.

“Feyde to base… anyone available?”

“Affirmative, Feyde. This is Hollowpoint. What’s your status?”

“Clanners, sir. They seem to be protecting my only access to mission objective. OT intelligence suggests someone is building a hive past that location, and I need to take him out. Requesting assistance in penetrating their outer defenses.”

“What’s you location, soldier?”

“East Newland Desert, sir. Approximately 3169x1910.”

“Confirmed, soldier. Hold your position until I arrive.”

“Roger that. Feyde, out.” Feyde continued his surveillance to determine any additional information he could provide to his CO. He noticed two people standing in front of the nearest building who appeared to be civilians, and he consulted the OT database for further information while waiting for Hollowpoint’s arrival.

Within a relatively short time, Hollowpoint joined him on the dune and they exchanged a salute. “What’s the situation?” Hollowpoint inquired, while looking over the terrain.

“Mostly male and female Clan Watchers, sir. From this location, I suspect there are possibly five preventing my further progress. Two Clanners on the left at this first structure as well; unknown if they are combatants. OT database says that one is a shop owner and the other is someone named Luke Jefferson.”

Hollowpoint said nothing, but began his buffing process getting ready for the impending fight. Feyde waited a brief moment and then made his inquiry.

“What’s the gameplan, sir?”

“Easy…we go in guns blazing. You stay close on my heels. Stay on my target. Other than that, just follow my orders.”

“Roger that, sir.” Feyde double-checked that his buffs would last through the upcoming fight and that his over-tuned E-Beamer was fully loaded. He knew it would be a tough fight for himself, but having a more seasoned soldier like Hollowpoint around was a welcomed reassurance.

“Move out.”

The two of them began running full tilt towards the shop located just this side of the ravine, hoping to gain some cover before the firefight began. Shortly before reaching the shop however, a female Watcher ran at them from around a dune they had just passed and began firing. The opening gunfire alerted another Watcher from across the bridge, who ran to engage as well. Hollowpoint returned fire and Feyde assisted with whatever target Hollowpoint chose.

The civilian Clanner named Luke Jefferson saw the first Watcher fall to the ground and charged Hollowpoint. Hollowpoint made short work of the second Watcher that was running to engage, possibly taking her down with one shot. Then he and Feyde let out a fray of gunfire into Jefferson, and he fell to his knees.

“Hehe… didn’t see that first one coming.”

“Me either, sir.”

They re-loaded their weapons and prepared to cross the bridge. Hollowpoint applied some medical treatment to himself and then went prone to survey potential targets on the other side. Suprisingly, Feyde was without even a scratch at this point. He guessed that the Clan perceived Hollowpoint as the bigger threat, and that was an accurate assumption.

“Male Watch Leader… eleven o-‘clock”

“I see him, sir.”

Hollowpoint took a second to target, and pelted the next Watcher across the bridge. She came running onto the bridge, but was dropped by the two soldiers before she could return fire. They ran across the narrow wooden bridge, and were immediately met by the Male Watch Leader. A barrage of bullets and energy filled the air as the three went head to head, but in the end when the dust settled it was Hollowpoint and Feyde that still remained standing.

They made their way across the rock ledge and started through a rock tunnel, leading to open dunes once again on the far side. “Hold.” Hollowpoint held up his left fist. Feyde checked his instruments to look for any impending danger, and saw a target running up from behind them. They both turned and opened fire on what was the Male Watch Leader, fully revived and coming back for more.

“Crap, this guy has good insurance.”

“Run, soldier! Finish your objective!” Hollowpoint shouted.

Feyde disengaged and ran through the remaining portion of the tunnel, not looking back. He was not completely happy with leaving Hollowpoint to fend for himself, but the mission was more important and he had been ordered to complete it. He jumped into his Kodiak and continued the short distance to the hive’s location. Ironically, the mission itself was less treacherous than getting there. Feyde would be well rewarded for completing the mission, with a new soldier nano crystal Total Mirror Shield Mk IV.

Though Hollowpoint lost the last fight with the Male Watch Leader, his insurance was up to date so he would come back to fight another day. Feyde took this to heart, and even though he knew it was part of a soldier’s duty to give up his life for those around him if need be… it was never easy. Knowing that there were others within Omni-Trans who would do the same for Feyde was both a comfort and an added weight on his mind.

Feyde awoke with a start, the remnants of a bad dream diminishing into oblivion as he came out of the fog. Not sure what the dream was about, but he knew he didn’t like it. He sat there on the edge of the bed for a moment, rubbing his face. His armor pants were still on from the night before, and his over-tuned E-Beamer was propped against the wall at the head of his cot. Never can be too ready for a fight, he thought to himself.

What’s wrong? he thought. Everybody can see it old man. You’re losing your grip. He shook off the thought as he splashed his face with water at the sink. Okay, not everybody. Vandrico is the only one who has mentioned it, but if he can see it then it won’t be long before others do. Gotta get myself back on track. I’m an OT soldier, I don’t have time for personal problems.

Feyde geared up, preparing for his shift to patrol the field office that evening. What time is it anyway…15:00… good, that still leaves enough time to go visit Vandrico and see if he made anything of that circuit board. He picked up his assault rifle, double-checked the ammo, put on his helmet and headed out the door.

Mid-afternoon… good thing I can’t see all of this sunlight from my apartment. Those people that have just one sun must sleep like babies. He stepped out of the highrise, and around the corner to the grid terminal. Punching in, he ran across the floor of the grid and came out outside the Newland City walls. Nice to be able to do that with some locations anyway, he thought to himself.

When he arrived at Vandrico’s place, Max was walking in circles around the place… knocking over piles of parts along the way. “Gotta get that droid some updates pretty quick. He’s been acting pretty batty today.”, Vandrico remarked. “You’re half an hour early… but it doesn’t matter, I’ve got something for you.” Feyde followed him back to his workbench, where the River MV had been cleaned to a nice polished shine. “No, not that… this!” and Vandrico handed him what looked like an electrical lasso.

“Uh… what is it?” Feyde baffled.

“What do you mean ‘what is it’? It’s an NCU belt for cryin’ out loud! Yeah okay, so it doesn’t look like your typical NCU belt. I cleaned up that circuit board that you brought me, and made something useful out of it. It even has a couple more spaces for NCU memory than that mass production thing you’re wearing now.”

“Hey… I’m impressed. Good work old man!”

“Hey, who you callin’ old? You are the bloke with the grey hair!”

“Yeah? That’s just cause you don’t have any hair.” They stared at each other for a second, and then broke out into laughter. Feyde looked at the new NCU belt in his hands, and his smile dimmed.

“Have you thought about what I said yesterday…about talking about whatever’s eating at you?”Vandrico hesitated at asking the question.

Brief silence… “To be honest with you I’m not even sure what it is, and I sure don’t want Omni-Med getting involved. They’ve got enough to deal with, without them babysitting personnel problems.”

Vandrico pondered the thought a moment. … “What if it was unofficial?”

Max knocked over a small group of shelves, causing a rather large crash as multiple small sprockets and widgets came crashing and bouncing to the floor. The droid was now facing a wall, still walking but going nowhere. Vandrico sighed and shook his head.

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe that las you were telling me about… what was her name… Tila? …Kira?”

“…Kealy?”

“Yes, that one.”

“When did I tell you about her… and why would I want to talk to her specifically? She is Omni-Med, you know.” Feyde was already shaking his head before hearing an answer.

“Ah… you mentioned something about her when you were talking about that alien invasion at the field office a few weeks ago. I was just thinking that maybe it’d be easier to talk to her about…whatever it is… ‘cause you two have been shoulder-to-shoulder on the same battlefield so-to-speak. You know… a little common ground to start from.”

“Yeah… maybe. Listen… I appreciate your help with the new belt. It sure beats the trophy belt I was thinking of. heh. … My shift is about to start at the office, so I gotta go.”

“Me too… got to do something about this automoton before he makes a mess in here. …and don’t say anything about my mess, this stuff is organized!” Vandrico continued saying something as he walked towards the back of the shop, but by now it was inaudible to Feyde.

Feyde smirked, got into his Kodiak and started towards the field office.

The drive to the field office in Mort was mostly uneventful. That was fortunate, since it would be the only peace I would have this day. The suns were only beginning to go down, and I was looking forward to seeing them set over the desert horizon. Maybe it would provide some solace to contrast with my ever-increasing nightmares.

I arrived at the office around 16:00 and prepared for my patrol. I knew that Trousers and Cylie had a board meeting earlier in the day about something important. Although I didn’t know the content of the meeting, I was looking forward to getting an update on what it was about. Maybe I could get more involved with Omni-Trans. I never felt like I was doing enough. I hadn’t been on my patrol long when the call came in…

“Sir, he’s basically ransacking HQ! We could use some help over here!”

“Calm down soldier. I know Hollowpoint is good, but he’s one man. Subdue him till we figure out what’s going on.”

“Sir, it’s not just him. He’s got most of S.E.I.D. working with him. They seem to be looking for something.”

“What the…Soldier, I want you and whatever part of our forces are left to try and subdue those men. Do not fire on them unless fired upon. This is what your hand-to-hand combat training was for, soldier. I’ll be there as quickly as I can once I verify things will be taken care of here in my absence. Now move!”

Hollowpoint was a good soldier. I could think of no reason why he would be doing this. Just a few days ago he saved my butt from some Clan Watchers, at the expense of his own life. Trousers was gonna go ballistic… I thought.

By the time I had returned to Omni-Trans HQ, Hollowpoint and the rest of his S.E.I.D. forces were gone. The floor was littered with debris from various offices and Trousers office appeared to be the hardest hit. The few Omni-Trans security forces that were still around were in the process of picking themselves up off the floor and trying to absorb what just hit ‘em. I noticed a couple of holes in the ceiling, but no other evidence of a gun battle.

I tried to get Trousers on the comm. Instead, Cylie picked it up.

“Trousers can’t talk with you right now, Feyde. Where are you?”

“Ma’m, I had to return to HQ because there…”

“Foosball and I will meet you there as soon as we are able. Until then, I need you and Hollowpoint to take care of things. You should also know that I have been appointed the new director of Omni-Trans, since the Board of Directors saw to it to have Trousers fired earlier today.”

“Ma’m..?”

“I’ll explain when we get there. Can you take care of things there for the moment?”

“Yes, ma’m.”

“Good. I expect to be there later this evening, if at all possible. Cylie, out.”

At that point, my comm. alerted me to another saved message. Hollowpoint called at 16:05 saying he had received a memo from Trousers and needed to speak with me right away. Right now it’s close to 17:30. Stupid defective comms… never can get a message when it’s needed. Hopefully the rest of this evening will bring better news.

“Ahh!” Feyde jumped out of his cot and slammed his back against the wall near his front doorway, holding his hunting knife firmly ready to strike. He was breathing heavily and sweat trickled down his forehead. Voices from the past passing in and out of his mind…

…[Foosball33]: “…because I have a gun and I like to shoot Omnis…”…

…[Cylie]: “I’d like you to be my bodyguard. I can’t die. Not now…”…

…[Hollowpoint]: “Run, soldier! Finish your objective!”…

…[Unknown Man]: “No man is an island. You can’t win this by yourself.”…

The haze began to pass from Feyde’s mind, and he started collecting himself. He slid his back down the wall of the dimly lit room until he was sitting on the floor. He continued to listen for any sign that there was any real cause for alarm as he slipped back into reality. The room was silent with the exception of his breathing starting to calm and the slight buzz of a desk lamp not far from his cot. Another nightmare.

“Time to wake up! The day is October 20, 29480. The time is 14:30.” A soothing female voice of an alarm clock stated, as the beginning of another double-shift at the office would soon commence. He walked back towards the table and turned off the alarm.

It was quite a workload, and there wasn’t any sign of it letting up soon. Omni-Trans is short-handed now, with S.E.I.D. having left for the Shadowlands for whatever reason. It was still hard to believe the chain of events, from Trousers getting fired to Hollowpoint and most of the rest of S.E.I.D. storming Omni-Trans HQ in search of information. Cylie had updated Feyde on most of the events leading up to now, but it still amazed him at how quickly things can change.

So now he has his regular patrol duties, but most of them have been reassigned to the rookies. Then there’s the investigation at Biomare that the good Dr. Lincoln at Outpost 10-3 had assigned to him. It took him a little while to get to the director of Biomare, but the director had been sent back to HQ for questioning, regardless. Then there was taking care of Cylie. That is the most important task.

Feyde began to think of another atrox he had met on the way back from Biomare. Kind of a shifty fellow, taller than Feyde… and wearing one of those oriental wide-brim hats. The guy had originally been planning to cause trouble for Feyde or anyone else coming through the whompa into 2HO. However, when he found out Feyde worked with Omni-Trans, they began disussing recent events. Feyde knew that the martial artist had been itching for a tangle, so they had some friendly competition before they parted ways. That atrox had some fast hands, and had bested Feyde before he knew what hit him.

Feyde smirked to himself as he picked up a Div9 Hollowpoint had given him before his… departure... …and reached for his communicator:

Feyde paused for a moment…
[Feyde]: ...guess that's the way of the "neutral", huh? ...get to hate on everybody if you feel so inclined.
[Martial Artist]: Sure.
[Feyde]: Don’tcha sometimes wish you were fighting for something bigger than yerself though?
[Martial Artist]: *wipes his brow* Naw, no one’s on my side... so I’m on nobody's side.
[Feyde]: Hmm... ...maybe if you were fighting for something or somebody, then more people could understand your "side".
[Martial Artist]: *chuckles* No need to even try, brother. I take odd jobs here and there from either Omni or Clan sometimes though… so if you ever need anything done that you don’t want to be connected to...as long as the price is right...hit me up.
[Feyde]: Can't think of anything like that at the moment. *shrugs* ...but as I said before, we can always use a good set of hands. Hopefully next time we meet, it'll be working together. *smirks*

The call ended and he began to clean the Div9, getting it prepared for the end of the month when he would have his first outing with the new weapon. He thought to himself… and even if we wind up on opposing sides… I’ve got a new toy I want to show you.

November 2, 29480
Newland City

“State your purpose.” Maximillian was standing in the doorway blocking Feyde’s entrance to Vandrico’s shop. The bot didn’t look any different than he normally does, but he definitely sounded different. “Weapon detected on visitor.”

Feyde sized up the bot briefly, a bit surprised at the change in its attitude. He looked past Maximillian into the shop but couldn’t see Vandrico. He shouted “Vandrico, call off your guard dog before I reshape his tin head.”

Vandrico stepped out from behind a pile of robot junk, where he had been looking for a part on yet something else he was trying to create. “Oh… sorry ‘bout that, mate. I’ve upgraded Max with some newer security features. He’s not quite as batty as the last time you came by.” Max stepped aside and back into a shadow, allowing Feyde to pass. “I think I may go with a total redesign soon, but this upgrade should allow me some time to work out the details. I’ve seen another bot design from other engineers that I should be able to duplicate in the near future… but I need to work on it some more.”

“Yeah? Well next time tell your ‘upgrade’ that I’m one of the good guys.” Feyde sounded a little put off, moreso at Maximillian than at Vandrico. He came in, setting his Omni-Pol helmet on the workbench and pulling up a barstool to sit down.

“So how’s life at the Omni-Trans pad? …things going okay?” Vandrico was concerned really with the well-being of his friend more than any current events he may have heard about through the grapevine.

“Don’t ask. Things are rough. The whole company got turned on its ear a couple weeks ago, and we’re still picking up the pieces. We’re short-handed, but we picked up a couple of new recruits a couple of days back. I’m doing double-shifts, plus bodyguard duty for the new number one.” Feyde told him little more. Normally he would not have given even that much information to someone, but he’d known Vandrico for years and trusted him.

“Ah! A promotion eh? I hope the pay comes with that. So does that make you the new top dog in the pack?” Vandrico inquired.

“Promotion… heh… yeah, maybe…but mostly because the other people in line jumped ship. I don’t mind the additional work really; it keeps me busy. It’s just a lot to adjust to, and I haven’t been sleeping too well either.”

“So lesse… somethin’ was puttin’ a weight on your mind, then you got twice the work and half the sleep. Does that about cover it? … I’m tellin’ ya bloke, a mind can only take so much before it cracks. Have you spoken with anyone yet?”

“When’s the last time you saw me crack, old man? No, I haven’t spoken with anyone. It’s not their business and it’s not their problem.”

Vandrico was undeterred. “Listen now… Bastian…you and I go back a long ways. I’ve known you since almost before you knew you. I’m only lookin’ out for your well-being; ya’ know that to be the truth. Now when’s that lass getting back from her trip?”

“Who?”

“That Kealy lass. Heard rumor she went on some off-world trip. Might be good to get an objective opinion on everything. You and I have such a history together, not sure that I could give you ‘objective’ anymore.”

He knew Vandrico was right. They did have quite a history together through various trials and tribulations, but they rarely talked about the past. If there was one thing that he had learned about their friendship, it was that Vandrico had a good logical head on his shoulders... at least most of the time. Sometimes he trusted Vandrico’s judgement more than his own, and he couldn’t argue the logic of the man’s statement. He grumbled and held out his overtuned E-Beamer to Vandrico. “Here… I came to get an upgrade on this. More work, less psychology.”

Vandrico gave it a quick look-over. “A little out of my know-how right now, I’m afraid. When you’ve got to teach yourself everything, the learning process takes a bit longer you know. Besides… I thought you were going to start usin’ that Div9 of yours.”

“Yeah, well… I miscalculated the buffs I need to make it happen right now. It’ll be a little bit yet before I can handle that much weaponry.” Feyde had been doing some target practice with the weapon the past couple of days, but hadn’t gotten used to the differences between the new weapon and his E-Beamer he had been using for so long. He picked himself up off the chair and walked across the room.

“I tell you what you do… saw a really nice quality E-Beamer down at one of the shops in Omni-Trade not too long ago. Go take a look and see if it’s still there and let me get back to my work here. You’re a rich man now with the promotion and all, right?” Vandrico joked.

Feyde chuckled a little. “Sure, old man. I’ll let you get back to your work and…” he mumbled something on his way towards the door.

“What was that? Didn’t catch it.”

“I said thanks for the talk! See you later!” Feyde shouted back as he ducked through the doorway of the shop.

Kealy was enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon in Omni-1. She was sitting alone on one of the benches surrounding the pond in Rome Red, watching people scurry here and there trying to get things done on their weekend before most of them had to return to work on Monday. The clouds occasionally let some direct light and warmth from Rubi-Ka’s two suns peek through. There was a light breeze, swaying the tall trees that surrounded the man-made pond, making the afternoon quite relaxing. Not far from her, people were appearing and disappearing as they entered or exited the grid. She could hear the sound of the whompa softly but frequently from across the pond. Her comm. alerted her to an incoming call. She touched the small device in her ear with her index finger. “Kealy here.”

“Kealy, this is Feyde.”

“Hiya, Feyde. What can I do for you?”

“I was hoping we could talk… off the record.”

Kealy was a little surprised by the idea. They had spoken a few times before, but hardly at any length and about nothing that would require being prefaced by the request of it being off the record. “Is it medically related?”

“Not exactly...” Feyde was second-guessing himself now. He wasn’t entirely sure what Kealy would do with the information if he started discussing personal matters with her. He was trying to put faith in Vandrico’s logic, which had rarely steered him wrong. Then thoughts of Trousers being hauled away and put into a drug enduced coma entered his mind. “Know what? Never-mind, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Oh, that’s not fair. You can’t tell me you want to talk and not do it. That’s teasing.”, she said chuckling. “Where do you want to meet?”

Feyde and Kealy worked out the details, and met shortly thereafter in one of the small diner areas of Borealis. Kealy had returned from her trip to Omni-Prime the day prior, and had a few days available before she was required to return to work. They spoke for a little while about her trip, as well as when they worked together during the alien attack on the field office. Kealy had heard about recent changes with Omni-Trans and was getting anxious to find out the reason why Feyde wanted to speak with her.

“So what’s really on your mind, Feyde?”

“Yeah…” He took a breath, preparing for the worst in case Kealy decided that this wouldn’t be off the record anymore for some reason. “A friend of mine suggested I talk with you about something that’s been on my mind lately. I don’t really want to bother you. I’m sure you’ve got plenty to do.”

“Not really,” Kealy smirked.

Feyde was quiet for a brief moment. “It’s probably nothing. I’ve been having these dreams… but it all seems real… like… memories of something that happened before.”

“Before what?”

“Before getting hired with Omni-Trans, I guess.” Feyde sat at one of the picnic style tables, looking down at his drink. He was playing with the label on the drink, feeling somewhat out of place discussing anything regarding his history.

Kealy sat across from him, sipping on her own drink occasionally. “…and what did you do before Omni-Trans?”

“Mostly freelance work. I did a little bit of work with Poetic Justice, but didn’t find my niche with them.”

“Being a soldier, I assume that you are exposed to a lot. What did you do before you were a soldier?”

Feyde was slightly confused by the line of questioning. He’d called Kealy so she could help him get past these current nightmares, and become a better soldier for it as a result. On the other hand, he respected Kealy and knew that she always appeared to know what she was doing, so he didn’t challenge the question. “Before I was a soldier?”

“Yes, what did you do before you were a soldier?” Kealy smiled, trying to be reassuring that she was there as a friend, and not just someone else in the Omni-Tek corporate machine.

Feyde thought about it for a bit. “Wow… that was a long time ago. Everything I’ve done in my career has been about being a soldier.”

“…and how long have you been a soldier?”

“Uh… maybe twenty years… give or take.” Twenty years more or less… a career soldier to the end. Feyde was proud of his career, and wasn’t afraid to tell anyone so. He’d done well for Omni-Tek thus far, and had been rewarded well for it in exchange.

“That’s a long time. Well you’re not twenty, that much I know from my own observation… plus I’ve seen your medical records.” Kealy chuckled a little at her joke. “Surely you must have had some life before becoming a soldier.”

Life before becoming a soldier… was there such a thing? “I hadn’t thought about that… in a long… time.” Feyde appeared to be coming to some sort of realization… an association with something recent.

“Feyde, what is it?”

“I don’t know yet.” He still couldn’t find the connection. “You know… in my dream the other night, I heard a man’s voice. It seemed like I recognized his voice, but I couldn’t place it.”

“Feyde, you are the one who asked me to come here, remember? Why are you leaving?”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I’ve got important things to take care of. Maybe we can continue this later?”

Kealy knew his work must be stressful during all the changes at Omni-Trans, and didn’t want to push the issue. “ I want to talk some more tomorrow. God knows, there is always tomorrow given the proper insurance. Can we meet here earlier than today to allow us more time to talk?”

“Sure. I’ll be here.” He picked up his quality E-Beamer from beside his chair, and headed out towards his Kodiak and then further towards Mort.

[Unknown Man] “This is not your fault, Bastian… but you can no longer stand by and watch what’s happening on Rubi-ka as an outsider. You’ve got to find a way to help the others around you. Our time is done, but there are plenty of other people that will need your help. … The Clan are becoming more of a threat to even those who try and live their lives peacefully. Find some people to work with and help as many people as you can, so the Clan militants can be neutralized. No man is an island. You can’t win this by yourself.”

Feyde opened his eyes, his vision becoming clearer as he awoke. The ceiling fan across the room made a soft humming noise at it slowly rotated. He sat up, put his head in his hand and rubbed both temples. He quietly suited up… grabbed something to drink and a snack, and headed out the door.

When Kealy showed up at the Borealis diner, Feyde was already sitting there waiting. “I see you’re ready to talk some more?”

“I remember him. I remember the man from my dream.”

“Oh? Who is he?”

“He was my mentor. He’s the one who educated me in my youth, to be more than a dumb bronto like some of my fellow Atrox appear to be content with. He was a good Solitus man, and I respected him. This morning I remembered some of my final conversation with him.”

Kealy gave him a nod of encouragement. “What did you two say?”

“I remember him talking to me while he was dying. It seemed so… final. He wasn’t that old… he was younger than I am now. I don’t… understand…” Feyde started to lose himself in thought as he tried to piece together the puzzle again. He rubbed his beard with one hand while staring off into nothing.

“Feyde… why was he dying… and what about his insurance?”

As the picture came into focus, Feyde’s eyes grew bigger and his hands dropped to his side. He tried to stand up, but instead fell backwards over the chair. The pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place and Feyde could see the full picture once again. “NO!” He turned around and flipped the table over behind him, other chairs being knocked over with it.

The food server was going to try and subdue him with her waiters, but Kealy stood up and held up her hand towards the food server, shaking her head. The food server stopped in her tracks, and her employees followed suit. “Feyde, calm down.”

Feyde was facing the wall, resting his head against one arm while lightly punching the wall with his other fist. He seemed somewhat disconnected with his present surroundings in his thoughts.

Kealy came to his side, trying to calm him with her voice. “What’s wrong, Feyde? Did you remember something? Did I say something to upset you?”

“He died because of a sword thrust through him. He and five others, the same way.” He turned his back to the wall and slid down it ‘till he was sitting on the floor. “He died because of me.”

She sat down on the floor next to him. “…because of you? Why do you say that?”

“We were all poor, and just trying to survive in Newland City. None of us had insurance. We couldn’t afford it. He tried to help everybody else… Omni, Neutral, Clan… didn’t matter. He thought that if he taught people… if he could educate them… then eventually those people could go on to do better things… to have a better life. We didn’t allow weapons in the room, so there were not many skirmishes. Occassionally, we would get donations from people that would help us stay fed, mostly from Omni.”

“So what happened? How were you involved?” Kealy tried to find the balance between finding answers and having Feyde retreat from conversation once again.

“I was one of his students. There were a couple of other people that I had invited to learn from him. I was trying to help them, like he was helping me. One of them was a neutral named Paul, who was beginning to learn engineering. The other was a neutral we all called Zeakke. … Paul and I had been out that afternoon trying to scrounge up enough food to feed the eight of us. When we got back, four of them were dead and my mentor wasn’t far from death himself. He told us that Zeakke had been recruited by the Clan a couple of weeks prior and were feeding him lies about Omni oppression. The fact that Omni soldiers mistakenly fired on unarmed protestors in Tir and Omni-1 recently didn’t help matters. After Omni had come to give their donation and left that day, Zeakke became enraged and said our group was all too weak-minded to understand the truth. He attacked them with a sword he had snuck in, stole the credits Omni-Tek had brought us and left. Unarmed, there was little the others could do to defend themselves.”

Kealy sat next to Feyde on the floor, wide-eyed and attentive. “That’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known about that, nor stopped it from happening.”

“Don’t you understand?” Feyde interrupted. “It was me who had originally invited Zeakke to join our group. Then that damned Clanner double-crossed us all.” Feyde held his head in his hands, and tried to slow his breathing. “After my mentor’s death, Paul and I signed up with Omni-Tek and I began my career as a soldier. They put me through basic training and provided me with insurance, but all hell was breaking loose with the Battle of Stret. I pushed my friends as far from my mind as I could, and tried to focus more on the present.” By this time, Feyde had nearly regained his composure. He stood up and brushed himself off, his demeanor changing back to the soldier Kealy was familiar with.

“Yes, I understand”, she said while standing herself up again. “But you see you didn’t know he would do that. Anyone in your shoes would feel guilty… but you’re not.

Feyde was solemn. “Every time this body gets sent to the reclaim… it feels like a part of my heart is ripped out. I didn’t understand why until now. I pushed away memories of my friends for so long, but I guess their deaths have never left me.” Feyde sat down again at the table, giving a look of apology to the food server, who sent a couple of helpers to clean up the mess while she returned to work.

Kealy sat down across from him. “Pushing it to the back of your mind… well, that doesn’t help resolve it. It’s the quickest way to get rid of it, but we always have something in our lives to bring those memories back to face us. Maybe now that you remember, you can bring some closure to this… but you can’t do that until you realize this wasn’t your fault.” She took a deep breath. “I’m glad that you came to me with this, Feyde and now I understand your initial hesitation. I can assure you this will not go into Omni-Med records, if you will assure me that you won’t go tearing up any more innocent cafes.”

Feyde smirked a little. “Yes, ma’m.”

Kealy chuckled, “…and cut the ma’m crap out. I’m not your boss.”

Feyde smiled before thinking of the time. “Oh… Cylie! How late is… oh, geez… I’ve got to go or I’m going to be late.”, he said putting himself back on his feet.

“On one condition, soldier.” stopping Feyde short. “You see me first thing in the morning here after your shift is over. We’re not done yet.”

“Feyde, it is not unusual for you to be dealing with this right now. With all the changes that have been happening at Omni-Trans recently, I’m surprised that you have held up as well as you have. Your past bears an uncanny resemblance to recent events, which is likely what has opened old wounds.”

“I know things have been a little hectic, but I don’t see what this has to do with my past.”

“Hmpf… and I thought your mentor was trying to make you smarter.” Kealy said sarcastically. “Ok, let me spell it out for you. While you were out taking care of things, a friend stormed into a place you consider your home and started messing with the world as you knew it. By the time you get there he’s gone with something important, taking a lot of people with him, and the man in charge is no longer able to take care of things there.”

“Holy crap.”

“In recent events you are left with a skeleton crew, you’ve been asked to take care of twice as many things and do bodyguard duty for the person who is now most important in your organization. My best guess is that having been in Omni-Trans for a while, you have begun forming some personal relationships with your co-workers and feel that not only were you betrayed by some of those you came to know as friends, but also now you feel like you’re the only one defending your new family… Cylie in particular.”

Feyde sat silent for a moment. “Wow… since you put it that way, it does tend to make more sense where the similarities are. I guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks, huh?”

“Well… psychiatry was not something that Omni-Tek hired me for, although it does come in handy now and then.” Kealy briefly went back to eating her breakfast. “Tell me Feyde, whatever happened to that Zeakke?” stopping once again to give Feyde her full attention.

“After I signed up with Omni-Tek, I started using the skills they were teaching me as a soldier to track him down in my off time. Zeakke wasn’t familiar with Clan territories much yet, and I wasn’t known as a member of Omni-Tek yet by most people… so it made things easier for me. I found him hiding in an alley behind one of the Clan hangouts and I… made sure he wasn’t breathing when I left. I found out later that the Clan had fronted him the credits he needed for insurance, so it didn’t do any good. I guess the Clanners needed every body they could get for their offensive against Omni. After that, he got a lot harder to track ‘cause he knew I was looking for him and because the Clan started tightening down on their own security. Last I heard, he was in Tir… but I’m not exactly welcome there anymore… and it wouldn’t do any good even if I got to him because his insurance would just bring him back somewhere else.”

“I see. So he could be practically anywhere now.” Kealy slowly went back to eating some breakfast, thinking about all that she had been told.

Feyde, on the other hand… tried not to dwell on the past too much. “Say… how come you as a doctor make so much more credits than my engineer friend? You both basically do the same thing. I mean… if a piece of machinery breaks down, he opens it up… replaces the defective part… and gets it running again. Isn’t that basically what you do as a surgeon?”

“Yes, well… next time your friend has a defective part to swap out… tell him to try doing it when the motor is running.”

He thought about the idea for a second and smirked. “Good point.”, he said while nodding his head.

“Now finish your breakfast before it gets cold. Waiter, can we get some more to drink here?” They both continued on with their morning meal, discussing other current events. Feyde thought to himself that he has indeed found himself some new friends, and perhaps a good new family here with Omni-Trans as well.

Chapter 4 - Old Adversary

~This whole story/thread is written by me/Feyde. The only reason for the different posters of the story is due to my limited access to the forums. Cylie and Trousers are org-mates who have been helping me to post the story.~

Chapter 4 - Old Adversary

November 26, 29480
Tir County---------------------------

Two Omni employees sit on the dusty floor of an abandoned building on the outskirts of Tir. The male appears to be a tracker of some sort, who sits just high enough to peer towards the guard post in the distance through his binoculars. As he sets his target on the binoculars, a reading appears in the sights providing distance to target, the amount of light at their position, and measured wind speed in the immediate area.

The female prepares her rifle on the opposite side of the room, putting a silencer on the muzzle. She pulls her long black hair back into a ponytail to keep it from interfering. Prostrate on the floor would be too low of an angle to hit the target, so she improvises with one of the support beams in the room. She ties a rope from her rifle case around the support beam, leaving enough slack in it to slip the end of her rifle through as well… first pointing it upside down and away from her target through the rope, and then twisting it over the top 180 degrees until her rifle is pointed right side up and in the direction of her target… the muzzle of the rifle being held tightly against the beam. Even though she has to stand to make the shot, she knows that the end of that rifle isn’t going anywhere.

“32 meters. Wind at 5 to the southeast. Target is alone. Nearest second is five meters from target, to the north. Wait for the call…” He continues to squint, looking for anything he may not have noticed… any approaching vehicles, any patrols… anything. The target lights a cigarette in one corner of the booth, his face slightly illuminated by the flame. The woman stands quietly at her rifle, eyes fixed through the lens of her scope. Her breathing slows. Another Clan soldier shows himself as he rounds the corner of a building just the other side of the guard post, and then continues north at a steady pace.

“Wait… wait… wait…” he says at a steady pace. The guard turns in his post, taking a puff from his cigarette, walks to the opposite corner and prepares to take another puff. “Now.” A soft whizzing noise is heard in the room, and Tawane watches through her scope as the guard drops limp to the floor of his guard post behind the handrail. “Target killed” says the man, as he lowers his binoculars and begins to collect their gear. Tawane quietly loosens her rifle from the rope, separates the rifle into three pieces and into her case, and picks up the rope and shell casing.

The two of them walk outside the eastern door of the room and put their gear into their vehicles. “Always a pleasure working with you, Tawane” he says… trying not to sound flirtatious. He still hadn’t heard anything from the last guy that tried to flirt with her. Only God knows where he is.

Tawane closed the small compartment where she’d placed her rifle, smiled… and said “I know.” And with that, they got into their separate vehicles and away from the Tir outpost… the guards still unaware that anything had changed.

As Tawane was on her way back to Rome, an image came onto her screen. It was one of her contacts in Omni-Pol, who provided her with the occasional work. “I have some work for you.” His mannerisms were stern, like that of a detailed supervisor or one with prior military training.

“Auto-pilot engage. Rome Green.” Tawane flipped a switch, scrambling any potential outside interception of the communication. “Go ahead” she said, changing her attention to the screen and that of her contact.

“We’ve picked up some information from one of our informants about a Clanner who has been causing us trouble. His name is Arthur Black, and I’m sending his information to you now. Apparently, he is planning to infect the water supply in Omni-1 with some sort of virus. We have reason to believe that this particular virus would be very detrimental to the population, and therefore we want you to locate him and bring him in for questioning. We’re not sure of his current location, but we do know that he has several people protecting him and his work so be careful.”

“I always am. Tawane, out.” The transmission ends, only displaying a picture of Arthur Black and his known history. She reads the information carefully, and then again before deleting the information. Placing a small comm. in her ear, she makes a connection. “Hello… yes, it’s me… he’s shown up again. Where are you?… Okay, I’m headed to you now.” and she ends the transmission. “Auto-pilot, new destination. Omni-Trans headquarters in Omni-Trade.”

Feyde appears at Cylie’s doorway, knocking on the frame of the door. “Do you have a moment, ma’m?” He seems a bit distracted, with a trace of concern on his face.

Cylie sits at her desk, dressed in her normal uniform although it’s a little more snug. Things haven’t been fitting as well, like they did just a month ago. The room is neat and orderly, with the exception of some small clutter on the desk. A small plate with pickles on it sits next to her datapad. She looks up from her work and waves Feyde inside her office. “Sure Feyde, whats up?”

“I've received word from one of my contacts that Omni-1 is in possible danger. There is a potential threat to the water supply by a man named Arthur Black. I was contacted because I am familiar with Black.” Feyde hesitates at giving too much information.

She notices that he hasn’t given her much detail to the information, but understands the need sometimes for public officials to be given limited information so they can use credible deniability of events should things not go according to plan. However, she also understands the need for such information to go through the correct channels. “Hmm… Well did you contact the Rome Division of Omni-Pol?” She goes back to looking at her paperwork.

“Ma’m, my contact was given the assignment from Omni-Pol to bring Black in for questioning. It appears they'd like to keep this matter out of the public eye, and my contact is well skilled about doing things quietly. I was contacted simply as a courtesy. I have tracked Black before, and therefore my contact believes I can be useful in tracking him once again.” Feyde pauses, then adjusts his uniform and straightens his stance to that of attention. “Requesting permission to pursue Black with this contact and bring him into Omni-Pol for questioning.”

Cylie pauses, her head still facing down at her paperwork but her eyes moving to look Feyde in the eyes. “That’s fine, Feyde… but if we need you for something here, you’ll have to come back.”

“Understood, ma'm. I’m always available for anything you may need.” Feyde paused at the idea of leaving his bodyguard duties temporarily to pursue an old adversary. Cylie had more than herself to be concerned about, and the recent events between Mr. Cross and Harking didn’t ease his mind any. “I’ll have two men posted with you in my absence. I don’t expect to be gone for an extended length of time.”

“Before you go today, could you make sure Sotto has security clearance in the building, he may stop by later.” Cylie said, going back to her business at hand.

Feyde was set ill-at-ease with the idea of Trousers coming back into the office while he was away. “Permission to speak freely, ma'm?”

“Of course”

“Last time Trousers’ crew was here, things did not turn out very well for us. Are you sure it's wise to meet with him here?”

“Oh, its fine. I’m sure everything will be okay… besides I’m only having him here to tell him about me...although as soon as he sees me he should figure it out. Anyway, don’t worry… I think it'll be fine.”

“Yes, ma'm. I'll make the appropriate arrangements.” Feyde left the office, stopping briefly at the lobby desk... then walking out the front doors of HQ and down the steps to a waiting vehicle. The windows were dark, so that passers-by could not see inside. Feyde sat himself in the passenger seat and closed the door.

“Arthur ‘Zeakke’ Black… solitus male wanted in su****ion for various crimes including terrorist activities and the murder of multiple neutral individuals.” Tawane began reciting the information that she had received from Omni-Pol.

“I’m well aware of who Zeakke is, Tawane.” Feyde stated.

Tawane paused. “Yes, of course you are. Sorry… old habit.” She smiled, put the vehicle into gear and dissolved into the rest of the flow of traffic. “Good to see you again.”

A sole vehicle traveled over the dunes of Mort, its metallic finish reflecting the late afternoon sun brightly. Inside the atmosphere was dark and cool, thanks in part to the dark tint on the small windows. As it passed over the dunes, lizards and hyenas scurried out of sight and away from the hum of the vehicle’s motor.

“I don’t understand this…” Feyde reviewed the paperwork and datapad information regarding one Arthur Black, aka ‘Zeakke’. “We’ve stopped at all his old haunts… followed every lead that we’ve been given, and even some we weren’t given… made random stops at places he’s likely to appear… and yet it seems we’re no closer to finding his location now than when we started.” Frustrated, Feyde stacked the information and dropped it to the floorboard between his feet.

Tawane took her eyes off the path in front of them long enough to glance at Feyde, and give a brief smile. Her demeanor suggested that she knew something she had not yet divulged. Feyde remained oblivious to all of this as he stared at the path in front of them, lost in his own thoughts as he rubbed his beard with the palm of his hand.

In the distance, buildings started to come into view and grow larger as they approached. The decrepit looking shacks were surrounded by a wall, and a couple of ICC officials stood at the gates. Their eyes followed the vehicle through the gates, one returned their gaze to the desert and the other followed the vehicle’s path until it stopped in front of a building in the far corner of the area. A sign was over the front door that read “BAR” in big letters, although it looked like either it had been there for a while or one of the venue’s well-paying customers must have hung the sign. A breeze blew by and Feyde looked up at the sign, wondering if this is the day the next slight breeze would bring the sign crashing down on the doorstep. “Mind telling me why we’re at Mack’s place?” Feyde inquired.

Tawane and Feyde stepped out of the vehicle, Tawane being farthest from the bar’s door. Even so, she could plainly see almost the entire length of the bar inside, since the front door was propped open with a chair… allowing both the evening breeze and the desert dust to find its way inside. The room was a small rectangular shape, with the bar on one of the longer walls and a row of tables on the opposite wall. It looked like there might have been a disagreement here lately, as most of the table and chairs are still knocked over. Tawane reached over the top of the vehicle, pointing Feyde’s attention to one of the bar’s patrons while she answered his question in a single word. “Her.”

At the far end of a bar, Feyde could make out four silhouettes… one shorter person facing the bar and the other three surrounding that one directly behind. From the doorstep, Feyde couldn’t hear the conversation but could hear the occasional laughter of some males. Tawane and Feyde stepped into the building and up to the part of the bar nearest the door, taking a seat. Mack was behind the bar, washing out beer mugs and appearing to ignore whatever conversation came from the far end. He looked up at Tawane and Feyde as they entered, and then went back to washing mugs. From here, the conversation at the far end of the bar could be plainly heard.

There was a shorter solitus female at the bar having a drink. She was dressed in leather, with the exception of her rather risqué vest which appeared to be some sort of Kevlar. She did not seem to be enjoying herself. Around her in a semi-circle were two other solitus males and an atrox, who appeared to be having fun at her expense. “C’mon baby… it’s not like you’ve got a lot of other choices of good looking guys like us in this bar. What d’ya say we go out back here and have a little fun,” one of the solitus said as he slapped her on the butt. The other two laughed. Feyde began to get up from his barstool, but Tawane stopped him before he was even on his feet. He sat down again, and watched as the young woman reached under the bar in front of her. There was a brushing sound of metal, and then a brief reflection of light as she spun around. As she returned to her previous stance to put her Katana into its scabbard, the three other males fell to the floor dead. She took a moment to down the last swig of her beer.

“This is Selincia. She and I have worked together on many occasions, and have gotten each other out of some rough spots. She called me earlier this afternoon and I described the person we were looking for. Although she doesn’t know Zeakke specifically, she may have an easier time getting into some places than you or I, since she is a neutral.” Tawane explained. Selincia wiped her mouth with her napkin and headed for the front door, looking at Tawane briefly as she passed her and then continued out the door. “She’s not much of a talker really.”

Mack looked over his shoulder at the three bodies laying on his floor, and then glanced at Selincia as she left. Tawane met his eyes and gave him a smile. Mack hadn’t flinched or broke pace on washing his beer mugs since Tawane and Feyde came in. A bot appeared from the back room, and proceeded to quietly drag the bodies out a back door and into the alley behind the bar. Tawane looked back at Feyde, who seemed a little surprised by the events that had just occured, and she simply said “Let’s go.”

A couple of days ago, Cylie had called for Feyde to return to Omni-Trans HQ. He and Tawane hadn’t had much success yet tracking Arthur Black. At the time of his departure to head back to HQ, he and Tawane were waiting on intel from their neutral spy.

Feyde and Harper were on bodyguard duty during the speech of Tarkhan Zora on the doorstep of Omni-Trans HQ. Mahoney was there, as was Mr. Cross. The bodyguard detail was for Mrs. Cross; Zora already had plenty of Unicorns guarding him. Zora had been delayed in starting, and was interrupted during his speech by those protesting Omni presence in Borealis, and others who wanted to see Zora dead. The Unicorns took care of anyone looking for a fight though, and the speech continued.

“The neutrals at this time do not pose a threat and quite frankly would be best to either sign up to the nearest Omni-Tek recruiter or if they're thinking of oppositional action, save us the trouble and shoot themselves or ask the nearest Unicorn officer to do so.” Zora stated. A little bit later he mentioned the Clans as well. “…As a result of this, I hereby remind all Omni-Tek employees that we are at war with the Clans. Any fraternization of your colleagues or conversations that aren't done via a series of bullets or attacks must be reported to your nearest Omni-Reform officer so that said individuals can be corrected for their behavior and sent down the right path. It is imperative that we draw a line between friend and foe. Omni-Tek is your friend; the Clans are your foe.” Feyde agreed with him whole-heartedly. He’d just as soon put a bullet in a Clanner than to look at him… but Zora wasn’t finished. “…I for one will not support assisting the Clans or the neutrals. In fact, Omni-Tek employees found to be assisting them will be tantamount to betrayal; the only allowance of conversation between you and them is either in an attempt to get them to the nearest Omni-Reform station, or to give them a head start to run away before you shoot them.”

Feyde had never had a problem with neutrals. He had fought along-side them, and had mutually successfull dealings with them. Now Zora was saying that the only interaction with them was to either get them to Omni-Reform or to shoot them? This didn’t bode well. …and then there was the no small matter of his immediate supervisor being married to a neutral. This was going to get awkward.

A few hours after the speech, Feyde spoke with Cylie about the Omni-Trans stance regarding neutrals. “If I understood correctly, Zora said OT employees should not be talking with Clan or neutrals unless we're either signing them up with the corporation or giving them a bullet... at high speed. I grew up as a neutral. I have no quarrel with them. In fact, we're working with a neutral currently to track down the suspect in the investigation I've been working on.” He paused for a moment. “However if the boss says that we're not to have any contact with them, then that puts a monkeywrench in the plans. I'm just not sure how everyone will react. That's basically what I'm concerned about.”

Cylie was serious and looked a little stressed. “Well I am concerned as well. This may actually hurt our business. I didn’t understand Zora to be saying we should shoot any neutral on site so… I don’t plan to. Nor do I plan on shutting down my lines till I’m told otherwise.”

“Understood, ma’m.” Feyde attempted to use his best sense of tact. “If you speak with Mr. Cross and he says I'm not as cordial as usual, tell him I mean him no ill-will. It's just a matter of determining our course of action during these times.”

“I’m sure he’ll understand.” Cylie noted.

Feyde’s comm. made a beeping noise, and he clicked it on. After a few brief sentences, he turned it off and spoke once again with Cylie. “The team appears to have located the suspects’ position. Permission to rejoin them to complete that task?”

“Sure, but one thing before you go…” she proceeded to tell him what she believed to be a good reference for their pending response to Zora’s speech. How the general public reacted, whether Omni or any other, was yet to be seen in the next few days. Hopefully things could be amiably worked out between Omni and the neutrals they had no dispute with. Of course not all neutrals were interested in keeping the peace, so only time would tell.

“It’s no wonder we had a hard time finding the guy. He’s in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by predators! It’s a small wonder that they didn’t finish him off for us.” Feyde was a bit baffled.

Tawane looked up from her map of the location. “Yeah, based on what Selincia told me… he’s been testing his virus on the local beasts, so the ones that don’t steer clear of him tend to die soon anyway. … This is our way in…”, she said while pointing at a spot on the map.

“Where is Selincia, anyway? I thought she’d be up for a good fight, based on what little I know of her.” He reloaded his weapon and double-checked his gear and buffs.

“She said she didn’t want to cause any potential conflict for us. After Zora’s speech Sunday, the big melting pot of neutral/Omni relations got stirred up. There’s no telling what we’ll see next. Once she located Zeakke, she left so as not to create any problems between us and our superiors.” Tawane checked the sights on her rifle. “Let’s go.”, and she entered the cave with Feyde following behind her. She set her scope on a Tilted Clan Lasersniper at the end of the corridor, checked for others nearby, and pulled the trigger. The sniper made little noise as he fell to his knees and ultimately face first onto the floor. “1 down, 20ish to go.”

“Yeah, well leave some for me.” Feyde remarked. They paused outside an arch with vines hiding the entrance to another room. He could see another Lasersniper just inside the doorway with his back turned towards the door, and a Techrejector about 15 meters in front of him. He snuck up quietly behind the Lasersniper and tapped him on the shoulder. As the Lasersniper turned his head to meet his opponent, Feyde struck him in the jaw with the butt of his gun, dropping him cold… then let out a burst of gunfire towards the Techrejector who was reacting to the infiltration. He fell at Feyde’s feet before being able to attack.

“Having fun?” Tawane remarked, a bit amused at his tactics.

“Absolutely. Today is a good day.” Feyde strangely had missed the times pursuing Zeakke, and seemed rejuvenated by the idea of finally bringing him to justice. They continued to quietly take out any opposition supporting and surrounding Zeakke, until they had one large room left to clear.

As they attempted to get a visual of the room, two guard turrets opened up and starting pelting the doorway with slugs. One of the bullets hit Feyde squarely, and rooted him in front of the doorway. He reacted by turning on his mirror shield and returning fire. He could see Zeakke behind the turrets, frantically pouring liquid from different vials down the sink and then throwing the vials and other paperwork into the incinerator. Feyde was finally released from his root, and took cover behind the doorway once again.

“How the hell are we gonna get past these two turrets? One I can deal with… but two? Looks like Zeakke is trying to destroy the evidence before we get in there. I need in there now!” he exclaimed.

Tawane diverted her attention to the noise of footsteps on the pipes above their position, headed into the same room as Zeakke. “Great, looks like he’s getting more reinforcements.” No sooner had she said it when both guard turrets stopped firing, and fell to the floor. Feyde peered around the corner, and then cautiously entered the room with his Plasmaprojector at the ready. He heard a couple of more footsteps above him on the pipes, but only managed to see a reflection of a blade before all evidence of anything happening above them was gone. Tawane followed into the room behind Feyde.

Feyde cocked his weapon and aimed it at Zeakke’s head. “Just give me another reason.”

“Haha… well, haven’t heard that voice in a while. How’ve you been, Bastian?” Zeakke turned to face Feyde, seemingly unconcerned about the two weapons pointed in his direction.

“Call me that again, and you’re gonna be walkin’ funny all the way back to Rome.” Feyde grimaced. “I’m taking you in to Omni-Pol for conspiracy to kill mass numbers of OT employees.”

“No need for the threats, Feyde. I’ll go willingly, and will be headed back home by the day’s end.” Zeakke smirked. Feyde restrained Zeakke’s arms behind him and walked him outside, shoving him inside the vehicle but not before smacking Zeakke’s forhead on the vehicle’s doorframe.

Tawane slowly walked towards the cave exit, holding her rifle and looking up and the pipes above her. She saw nothing but areas of shadow un-illuminated by the torches lining the halls. She changed her focus towards the exit and quickened her pace, uttering a quick “thanks” before leaving the cave.

Chapter 5 - Zeakke's Demise

Chapter 5 - Zeakke's Demise

December 6, 29480
Rome Blue, Omni-Pol HQ

Feyde sat alone on a slatted wooden bench in the lobby of Omni-Pol HQ, his body leaning forward resting his elbows on his knees and nervously rubbing his hands together. There was a constant low volume of chatter, as Omni-Pol employees went about their business around him. To his right and left, he could see glass doors down a short hallway that had a sea of employees working in their cubicles. The main lobby was mostly empty with the exception of the occasional employee making their way from one side of the building to the other. One of the employees tossed a cigarette butt towards an ashtray as he passed through the lobby, and made a short groan of frustration as he missed the ashtray and it fell to the floor. The employee never stopped to pick it up, and they continued on with their business. Feyde watched him walk away, and then saw a small disc-shaped robot come out from under a table, scoop up the cigarette butt and ashes, and return to it’s place of hiding.

Tawane almost tripped over the little bot as she entered through the front door. “You’re here early. Afraid you’re going to miss something?” she said with a smile on her face. She noticed Feyde was looking a bit apprehensive, and sat down next to him on the bench. “Relax, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Something’s not right. It shouldn’t take this long. We brought him in yesterday. How long can they hold a suspect anyway?” Feyde snorted, “’Suspect’… like we don’t know if he’s our guy or not. I never understood why they call him a ‘suspect’ when they know he did things. Then again, I never understood why doctors call what they do a ‘practice’ either… seems like eventually they’d stop practicing and start actually doing the job.”

Tawane giggled at the idea.

Feyde’s comm. began to chime, and he touched the device in his ear. “Yeah? … Hey… No we still haven’t heard anything. I’ll call you back when I know something… Okay… okay… bye.” Tawane looked at him curiously. “That was Hutchinson. He was the guy that was with me when Zeakke killed our friends in Newland City.” Feyde shook his head and sighed. “…never has been held accountable for that. … I should’ve just shot the guy when we caught him.”

“Wouldn’t have done any good,” Tawane remarked “He just would’ve shown up wherever his insurance was last updated.” She patted him on the back consolingly.

“Yeah, you’re right but I…” Feyde was interrupted by an officer coming into the lobby.

“Wolfgang?” The officer looked at Feyde inquisitively. He was a stocky black solitus man that looked like he could handle himself well in a fight.

“’Feyde’… yes.” Feyde stood up to look eye to eye with the man.

“Sorry for the wait. Boss said to tell you that Zeakke was released at an undisclosed location half an hour ago.”

“What?!? Why?!? What happened?” Feyde was obviously upset and began shifting back and forth on his feet with anxiety and anger, looking at the officer for answers. Tawane held her hand at his chest, unsure what the full extent of Feyde’s reaction would bring.

“Hey… don’t shoot the messenger. The boss is over there if you want to talk to him about it.” He said, pointing off to his left through the glass doors.

Feyde let out a huff and marched through the doorways towards an overweight, middle-aged solitus who was shooing away another employee with some paperwork. “What the hell kind of operation are you running here?!?” A couple of nearby opifex stopped what they were doing and glanced up at Feyde.

The boss looked at Feyde, unimpressed by his current state of mentality. “Listen, tough stuff… next time you wanna do the job of Omni-Pol, make damn sure you come back with enough evidence to finish the job. Looks to me like whatever evidence may or may not have been there got washed down the drain before you took the guy into custody.”

“Evidence? I was asked to bring the guy in, that’s all. Nobody said anything about evidence.” Tawane inquired.

“The fact that Clanner woke up today should be all the evidence you need to get rid of the guy permanently!” exclaimed Feyde. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there an all out war going on here?”

The boss looked at Tawane. “First off, there’s no record that Omni-Pol asked you to do anything. But even if there was, evidence is how the operation works. No evidence, no criminal.”

“Of course there’s no record! Who do you…” Feyde’s sentence was cut short by Tawane. She was shaking her head and pushing Feyde’s chest in an attempt to get him to stop the fruitless argument and leave. He looked at her silently for a second, shook his head and headed towards the exit door. “$*#@!%&!*!”

Tawane turned back towards the Omni-Pol boss. “Mind telling me where you dropped him off?”

“Can’t do that, I’m afraid. Confidential information. He’s probably back in Clanner territory by now.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

Tawane rolled her eyes, turned around and began to walk towards the exit doors following Feyde. “…of course he is.” she muttered.

Feyde sat in an old rust colored chair near Vandrico’s workbench. He played with some loose material on the armrest as he continued to talk with Vandrico about their run-in with Zeakke. “I don’t know what happened, Paul. They said bring him in, so we did… and then they act like they don’t want him and just let him loose again.” He lets out a rather big sigh. “If only we had gotten there sooner, maybe we could have saved that evidence…”

“No need to beat yourself up about it, lad. What’s done is done, and there’s no changin’ it. A man can only do so much; we can’t all be perfect you know.” Vandrico was tinkering with some parts on his workbench, only slightly paying attention to what he was doing as he spoke. “I’m sure there will be other opportunities to get him.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s part of the problem. With the insurance people have nowadays, it’s a never ending process of going after the same people. If we do catch ‘em, the prisons get overcrowded. If we shoot ‘em, they just take it like a slap on the wrist and go back to what they were doing.” Feyde got up from his chair and walked over to Maximillian, who was standing in a corner looking useless… only turning his head with a slight whirr of gears now and then. Feyde knocked on Max’s forhead, and it made a hollow metallic sound like when one of the local food providers dropped a carrying tray for food onto the stone floor. Maximillian didn’t respond. “Hey, any word from OT about your clearance into the Shadowlands?”

“Bah… they can’t seem to make up their minds.” Vandrico snorted. “I’m sure they think they’ve got better things to do than deal with small-time engineers like me. Don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain, no. I’m just one of the guys that keeps things functioning, that’s all. No, I’m not important.” he said sarcastically.

Feyde chuckled a bit. “Don’t feel bad old friend. They haven’t given me clearance yet either. I’ve got plenty here in Rubi-ka to keep me busy though. I tell ya’… Cylie looks like she’s gonna pop. Will be nice when she’s back on her feet again. Shouldn’t be long before she’s back from her maternity leave.”

“Who’s in charge of operations at Omni-Trans while she’s on leave?” Vandrico inquired. “That husband of hers running things now? Would be a strange tale indeed to have a neutral running an Omni organization.”

“I… uh… well, there’s… uh…” Feyde was trying to backpedal in his coversation. At that point, his comm. chimed and he answered it. “Yeah, it’s me. … What the…. Can you play that again, I’m gonna put it on speaker so Hutchinson can hear this too.” He made an adjustment on his comm. and there was a click, and then a little background noise heard in the room.

“Sure thing.” Tawane said, her voice coming from the comm.. “This is a memo we received a few minutes ago, Hutchinson. Here it is…”

A computerized voice was heard stating the time of the recording: “December 17, 29480 15:40 hours” The voice changed to that of Drdoma, head of Omni-Pol: Rome Divison. “I hereby resign from Omni-Pol and from Omni-Tek. There are many reasons why but I don’t want to bore you with them. So goodbye to all and good luck.”

Tawane came back on the line, “Rumor has it that Drdoma just signed up with the Clan. Think this is related to our problems at Omni-Pol a couple of weeks ago?”

“Hard to say,” Feyde remarked “…but it sure as hell looks su****ious. They let a wanted Clan criminal go after we go to the trouble of capturing him, and then the guy in charge quits and turns Clan? What would you think.” He pauses. “I should get back to HQ and relay this to other people there. Keep us informed if you hear anything else.”

“Will do. Talk to you later.” Tawane acknowledged before turning off the communication.

“Gotta go, Paul. Let me know if something changes with your status regarding the Shadowlands too.” Feyde ducked out the front door as Vandrico waved him goodbye. He looked up into the sky at the battlestations now hovering high above the planet, and shook his head. “Time to go back to work.”

Feyde stepped off the lift of the highrise and stepped into a lobby that appeared similar to his apartment building. Various seating areas were arranged to have that “comfortable business” type of aura. A woman that most people simply called “Bezerkress” stood near the lift, waiting for him. Feyde had received a message requesting a meeting with her earlier in the day, although at this time didn’t know why someone from Omni-AF would want to speak with him.

“Hello, Feyde.” She said with a smile. She was a young looking solitus woman, who… if it weren’t for the nickname and the all black armor that she wore, including some sort of tank armor… would normally not be taken as a threat in a fight. Feyde knew that appearances can be deceiving though, and based on the brief intel he had on her… she was anything but an innocent angel to the Clan that crossed her path. “This way please.” They made their way over to a nearby door and paused outside. “They’ll need to unlock my office from the inside.”

There was a whir and a few clicking sounds coming from the central area of the door, and then it opened. Walking inside, Feyde saw a red carpet stretched the length of the room and noticed two other individuals in the room. One appeared to be a male guard dressed in typical Omni-Pol style armor at the far side of the room. The other was a male nanomage, who was standing behind a desk nearest Feyde. There was a patch on the front of his shirt that read Lambda92. “Greetings Commander… and welcome Feyde. I’m sure you can understand we had to make sure the area was safe first.” As Bezerkress stepped into the room after Feyde, the door shut behind her and there were a few clicks and a whir within the door. “Now, please place your hand on the scanner to your right.” Feyde complied and a brief beam of light scanned his hand. “Your clearance has been accepted. You may proceed to the main room.”

Feyde and Bezerkress walked into the next room, which was decorated like you might expect to see in an executive’s office… expensive chairs and couches that looked rather comfortable, as well as an array of drinks and finger foods on the table in front of them. He was a little overwhelmed by the idea of being summoned by Omni-AF, and tried to keep his mouth shut so he wouldn’t say the wrong thing.

“Please have a seat, Feyde.” She motioned to a nearby chair, and then sat down on the couch to his left. “Feyde, you have been brought here because we have information regarding a former associate of yours named Zeakke.” He raised an eyebrow. “Bring the files from the Zeakke case h/ref 666990101!” she shouted.

Lambda could be seen in a nearby room shuffling through some information, and then appeared next to Bezerkress with some documents. “Here they are ma'am.”

“Thank you. You may return to your duties.” she said, and Lambda scurried off into the entry office again. “Ahh yes… Zeakke. As you may know, early this month he was suspected of having planned to infect Omni-1's water supply. One of our undercover agents has discovered new information pertaining to his activites of late.”

Feyde almost jumped out of his chair with anticipation of capturing Zeakke once again. “Ha! Another opportunity to kill that punk!” Realizing his momentary lack of restraint, Feyde’s smile dimmed and he motioned to Bezerkress to continue.

“There is some implication that he may in fact be involved with the terrorist para-military unit known as the Dust Brigade. He was observed entering their headquarters on several occasions.” she stated. “It is believed that Zeakke is a key part of this most recent plot. Knowing the Dust Brigade, they are planning to execute a rather theatric attack of significant size… perhaps like the bomb that killed hundred of innocent people while they were asleep in their beds, while simultaneously corrupting their insurance data with a virus.”

Feyde had a solemn and disturbed look on his face, as he stared at the floor absorbing the information. “Sounds serious.”

Bezerkress continued, “It is definitely very serious, and of course we must assume that they intend to succeed where they have failed previously. Since Zeakke is an important part of this scheme, we believe that taking care of him will take care of their current plot. We will have a significant advantage over Zeakke, and he will be easier to deal with than a larger scale battle against all of the Dust Brigade. It is clear that the only appropriate way to deal with this individual is a perma-kill. Anything less could have catastrophic consequences.”

Feyde thought about the idea. He’d heard the rumors of perma-kill weaponry, but had never actually seen one. It was said that they were expensive to create to begin with, and must be encoded with the neural signal of the target. The neural disruptor would sever the connection between the ‘essence’ or ‘soul’ of the victim and any terminal that may hold their insurance information. Due to the neural encoding, the weapon could only perma-kill one individual and thus had never become a process that had widespread use on the battlefield. Was such a weapon actually in existence? Could a perma-kill even happen? The idea of killing his longtime foe permanently was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. “How can I help?”

“I understand that some of your associates helped to tracked Zeakke before. Some of your team have demonstrated impressive abilities.” Bezerkress flipped through some of the paperwork in front of her. “Here she is… this ‘Selincia’. She is the one we are interested in. Our file indicates that she rarely speaks, and she can be quite lethal with a Katana. If that is truly the case, she is potentially the perfect candidate for the job. Perhaps if we were to grant her the use of a perma-kill weapon she would be able to accomplish the mission better than an entire assault squad from OTAF. Sometimes a single well-placed blade can strike more fear than an entire army.” She continued, “Most people believe that perma-kill weaponry is a myth, and we’d like to keep it that way. None of you are to discuss this mission or the perma-kill weaponry to anyone.”

Feyde noted, “We had planned to use Selincia with this past raid, but with Zora's speech and all... it left us in doubt about working with a neutral. It now appears like OT is still okay with neuts though, if they're pro-Omni.”

She looked up from her paperwork and met Feyde’s eyes. “Have you ever heard the saying, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’? Such is the case in this situation.”

Feyde stood up from his chair. “I'll make the necessary arragements. I'm sure Selincia won't mind helping. Anything else you need from me at the moment?”

Bezerkress stood up and took a few steps towards the door. “No, not at this time. Thank you for your time, and I suggest you prepare yourselves for the coming task.”

Sabulum. Almost five years ago there was an incident there. Omni-Pol tried to apprehend some suspects, but were met with resistance by the Clans. After much trouble with the Clans, Omni-Tek declared martial law and sent in Omni-AF as reinforcements. It didn’t calm much. The ordeal lasted several days, during which time Omni-Pol attempted to go door-to-door searching for their suspects. In the end, Omni-Tek went home empty handed. This couldn’t be allowed to end up the same way.

A smaller group and a less official appearance. Four people in total: Feyde, Selincia and two OTAF combatants. All dressed in casual clothing… at least the outer layer. It was dusk as three of them picked the lock and entered the building, Selincia slipped around the side of the building and into the shadows. Promptly getting rid of their social clothing to reveal their armor underneath, the three of them remaining checked their supplies and buffs. With silencers and a soldier’s mind, a lot of damage could be done without causing much of a stir. The goal, of course, was to take care of one Arthur “Zeakke” Black before he was able to escape. The OTAF had an undercover agent investigating the Dust Brigade long before Feyde was made aware of it. When it was discovered that Zeakke was an essential part of an upcoming plot, the agent made OTAF aware of the situation and then went back to his assignment. He was in there now… somewhere… and would conveniently disappear when the fighting commenced. The decision whether or not to re-insert him into the investigation would have to be made by OTAF at a later date.

The two OTAF soldiers made their way in with well-practiced precision. Feyde was their third, and primarily made sure that nobody would come up on them from behind. He may not understand all of the tactics of the official OTAF… but a battle-hardened person will pick up on anything they can use to ensure their survival… and Feyde had been in more than a few battles. Room by room they went, taking care of any Clan threat. Of course, if a Clanner is breathing he/she could potentially be considered a threat… so there wasn’t much left to see by the time they neared the end of their mission. Only two more rooms… the one small room on their right, and the big room at the end of the hall. No sign of Zeakke yet.

Feyde continued to watch their back, trusting in the OTAF to take care of any threat from their progression. As the silencers stopped whizzing, Feyde turned around to enter the doorway and face his teammates. It was at this same time that a Clanner stepped out from behind a shallow wall and did a quick burst in the direction of the Omni soldiers. Feyde caught one of the bullets in his left shoulder, spinning him back out onto the floor of the hall. The other OTAF returned fire before the Clanner could do anything more… but the results of this misstep could already be heard.

Yelling was coming from the large room at the end, and sounds of tables and other items that could be used as barriers were being knocked over surely in preparation for the Omni team’s assault. As this was going on, the OTAF dragged Feyde back into the small room from the hallway… his shoulder bleeding adequately enough to need medical attention in the near future. One of the OTAF grabbed a shirt laying in the room and pressed it against Feyde’s shoulder. He voiced his reaction without thinking about it. “Agh! Mother…”

There was a brief silence from the large room, and then a voice. “Feyde, is that you?” and a chuckle. “I’d know your voice anywhere. What’s the matter, some of my boys playing too rough?”

The OTAF took positions in the doorways on opposite sides of the hall. “You can’t get out, Zeakke. To get to your exit, you’ll have to get past us.” Feyde replied. He pulled himself back onto his knees and grabbed his assault rifle.

“Don’t be so sure of yourself, Feyde. I’m not a novice at this game anymore.”

Across the hallway, Feyde saw one of the OTAF soldiers nod to the other. The one nearest Feyde nodded in response and tossed a frag grenade towards the door. Within seconds the door was just a gaping hole. As the smoke and debris cleared, they could make out three people still behind their defenses a little further back in the room. A fourth person… a glowing blue reflection… ran towards the direction of Zeakke, stumbling from the blast a little but already with a brilliant glow coming from between his hands. “Fixer!” one of the OTAF said and they both unloaded their clips towards the blue outline. He dropped to the floor next to Zeakke.

The other two of Zeakke’s men returned fire from their defensive positions. Feyde attempted to fire from the doorway as well, giving the OTAF the few seconds they needed to reload. “We’ve been here before Feyde!” Zeakke yelled. “I don’t know why you keep coming back. You know that you can’t keep me locked up.”

The OTAF and Feyde had adequate suppression fire between the three of them to keep their opponents pinned down. But they slowed their firing rate, allowing their prey to return fire. They bided their time until the Clanners needed to reload.

Above Zeakke and his men, there were two muffled clanking sounds like boots against a pipe. Before Zeakke could determine the source of the noise a woman dressed in Kevlar dropped behind him onto the dirt floor. Zeakke’s soldiers both spun around due to her appearance, showing enough of their bodies from behind their defenses that the OTAF fired and finished them off.

Zeakke seemed unimpressed by the theatrics and stood face to face with the woman, his body in plain view of anyone targeting him. “What… you wanna kill me? Go ahead, I just updated my insurance yesterday. It will make for less downtime, and I can get back to my work.”

Selincia slowly removed a katana from its sheath as Zeakke spoke.

“Oh how poetic… a stabbing this time, like how I killed your friends in Newland City.” Zeakke said, still yelling to Feyde. As he took a look at the weapon, a brief residue of electricity wrapped itself around the blade from hilt to tip. “What the…”

…and before he finished his sentence, she brought the blade slicing down on him. The static charge on the weapon seemingly transferred itself onto the wound as she struck before it dissipated completely. He fell to the floor at her feet, his body went limp and his pupils dilated.

One of the OTAF removed his helmet, revealing his chiseled looking face and blonde hair. He turned on his comm. and spoke with a commanding voice. “Ert here. Mission accomplished. Requesting beacon warp for four…” Selincia looked up towards him, shaking her head. Ert looked at Feyde for confirmation, who met him with a nod. “…correction… three of us starting with Feyde. He needs medical attention upon arrival.”

The voice came back in their comms… “Roger that. Well done. Beacon Warp incoming.”